Free The Royal Scamp by Joan Smith Page B

Lowden, you may be slightly eccentric, but I can’t believe you want your name broadcast so indiscriminately. I think you will keep your suspicions to yourself. That’s all I ask.”
    “Don’t try to intimidate me,”she said, and strode angrily away. She resisted the urge to turn around when a low rumble of laughter trailed after her.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Esther wanted to discuss Mr. Meecham’s suspicious behavior with someone more sensible and worldly than her chaperon, yet she hesitated to take her story to the constable. Neither a lawsuit nor a scandal involving her inn was desirable.
    Joshua Ramsay was the logical person—older, worldly, presumably wiser, and Mr. Meecham’s surety. But Joshua was in London, and besides, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was in a hobble. His cousin Buck couldn’t be relied on to keep it quiet from Joshua, either. Within ten minutes it occurred to her that Mr. Fletcher was a possible confidant, and within fifteen she had sent a note to the inn requesting him to meet her by the Thames.
    He came promptly, his blue eyes agog with curiosity. “Miss Lowden, what is the matter?”he asked. There was a noticeable air of concern about his handsome brow; he possessed her two hands and gripped them tightly.
    “How kind of you to come,”she said, and squeezed his fingers as tightly as he held hers.
    His concern softened to a smile. “You knew I would”was all he said, but the simple words suggested a high degree of devotion. “Now tell me what has got you hipped, and we shall sort it out.”
    “It’s about the Royal Scamp and Mr. Meecham.”They began a slow turn along the gravel walk, and Esther emptied her budget to him, explaining all her suspicions, but skimming rather lightly over Meecham’s physical attack on her.
    “It’s intolerable that he is staying at the Lowden Arms, rubbing elbows with respectable people like yourself. Is there no way I can get him out without causing a scandal or laying myself open to a lawsuit?”she asked.
    Mr. Fletcher gave her fingers an avuncular pat and considered the matter a few moments. They sat on a wooden bench at the end of the walk. It was situated behind a stand of ornamental shrubbery that provided privacy.
    “I think I know what you should do, Esther,”Mr. Fletcher said at length. “I—I hope you don’t mind my calling you Esther?”he asked apologetically. “It slipped out.”
    It seemed hard to insist on the formalities when she had sent for him, and she graciously consented. Soon she agreed to call him Beau as well. “What do you think I ought to do?”she asked.
    “Let him stay.”
    “Let him stay?”she exclaimed. “My whole purpose in sending for you was to discover how I might turn him off.”
    “Turn him off if you like; he won’t set up a revolution. If he is Captain Johnnie, he doesn’t want publicity any more than you do. That was mere bluster. He shan’t stay long now that you’ve tumbled to his identity, but as long as he is here, it gives us an excellent opportunity to observe him. With luck we might even capture the Royal Scamp. That would be quite a coup for your inn.”
    Esther beamed a dazzling smile on her companion. “How clever you are!”she exclaimed. “But we shall need help, Beau. We can’t capture him by ourselves. And I would rather not ask for Joshua’s assistance. He’s so arrogant, there’s no bearing it.”
    “I have my groom.”
    “If you need more men, you could recruit some footmen or stable hands at the inn,”she offered, and gave him a few names.
    It was settled satisfactorily between them that Beau would watch Meecham like a hawk and follow him if he left the inn after dark. “I believe I’ll dine at the inn again tonight,”Esther said before leaving.
    “Please don’t. I don’t want you in harm’s way, in case anything happens. And besides,”he added with a bantering smile, “it gives me an excellent excuse to call on you this evening to